Fat tax should not be confined to air travel

AT the risk of being unpopular by running counter to a general trend of indifference to the problem of obesity, I propose we extend Michael O’Leary’s plans for a “fat tax” on his aircraft to other modes of public transport.

I was sitting on the top deck of a bus the other morning when my tranquility was rudely interrupted by a heaving mass of a man who took the outside seat. In doing so he crushed me against the window to which I remained pasted until I reached my destination.

When Transport Minister Noel Dempsey finishes washing the sand out of his hair and is ready to get back to work, perhaps he would like to address this issue. An extended fat tax would generate money for a beleaguered economy and would go some way to address the injustice currently endured by passengers like myself.